Eternity Read Free

lip gloss, and guys shared apps on their iPhones. I noticed friends giggling about other friends’ outfits and teammates thumping each other on the back for games well played. I walked past kids furiously copying their friends’ homework assignments and others fumbling with the towers of books in their lockers. Of course, I suffered the occasional “accidental” bump by students still angry with me for the now-infamous Facebook incident in which I took the fall for a nasty prank concocted by two of the more popular junior girls, Piper and Missy, in order to protect many of my fellow students.
    I couldn’t stop from staring at my classmates in amazement, like they were exotic creatures in the zoo. They had no idea that some kind of Armageddon was heading their way and that I was selected to play a special role at the end. Maybe even stop it. They were oblivious to the fact that all their gossiping and studying and worrying were meaningless.
    I felt the simultaneous urge to sob and giggle. The whole notion of Ellspeth Faneuil as savior to the world was both overwhelming and ridiculous.
    The only thing keeping me sane while I walked down the hallway was Michael. The link of his fingers in mine was like a tether to our new reality. I believed I could navigate through our conflicting worlds—the frivolous Tillinghast High School and the looming otherworldly battle—with him beside me.
    Once I said good-bye to Michael before heading into English class, I lost my anchor. I felt like I’d been cast adrift into an unreal sea.
    English class brought me near the brink. The minute I entered the classroom, Miss Taunton launched into me. Like a hawk circling a wounded animal, she bombarded me with questions about our latest assigned novel, which I could barely remember amid the more vivid recollections of my days in Boston and my encounter with Ezekiel. I wanted to scream at her that none of this mattered, even though I didn’t dare.
    The second that Miss Taunton lay off me, my best friend Ruth texted me: “Wait for me in the hall after class.” Normally, I’d welcome a quick chat with my oldest and best friend in the world, especially if it involved commiseration over Miss Taunton’s unfair but not unusual treatment of me. For reasons best known only to herself, Miss Taunton had taken a decided dislike to me. But I didn’t know if I could handle a one-on-one conversation with Ruth yet. I had no idea what she remembered. The last time we were together—minutes before I boarded the train to Boston—she had confessed to having seen me fly. Had my parents tried to erase Ruth’s memory too, with more success? If so, could I pull off the regular Ellie act? How should I handle Ruth? I pled illness and intermittently coughed throughout class to support my ruse.
    At the ringing of the bell, I raced out of class. My head was spinning. I needed a reprieve from the dual universes. A moment to catch my breath, to reassemble myself.
    Instead, I ran smack into Piper, my next-door neighbor. She had been ignoring me for weeks, since I decided to take the blame for that wicked Facebook prank. Unbelievably, she had decided that this was the moment to break the silence.
    “I know what you did, Ellie. I don’t get why you did it. Why would you take the blame for something you didn’t do? Why would you sit through weeks of detention and being grounded and walk down the hallways, knowing that all the kids in school hate you, and not ever point a finger at me or Missy? I bet you think you’re some kind of a saint,” she said with a shake of her perfect hair. Yet beneath the part of popular girl that she played so well, I saw the other, secretly self-doubting Piper. And she was pleading for my understanding, even for forgiveness.
    I didn’t know what to say. Part of me wanted to tell her the truth—that her snide little guess wasn’t totally off the mark. I was half angel, and I simply couldn’t have sat by and let others suffer at her